Family Ties
by Detafo
Summary: Jackass/Viva La Bam Fiction Completely AU. Charlie is a young girl who comes to live in the Margera household in the 1980's. Please read and review. It's been bouncing in my head for days. Reviews and constructive criticism get cookies. Flames get dirt.
1. Chapter 1

**Family Ties  
**_By Risty Maskell  
_**(PG-13)**

**Disclaimer:**  
I own none of the Margera clan. This story was written purely for the entertainment of others and there was no copyright infringement intended. If any of the Margeras or their friends read this, I meant no disrespect. I own Charlie.**  
Author's Note:**  
This story is completely AU. It has been bouncing around in my head for days, after I had a CKY and Viva La Bam Marathon.

**Chapter One**

_::~1987~::_

"But Mommy, don't go! Please!" Big blue eyes filled with tears as the little girl gripped the woman's hand tightly, trying to prevent her from going out the door. "I be good! Promise!"

"Let me go!" The woman wrenched her hand angrily out of the toddler's grip and glared at the bedraggled mop of curly blonde hair that framed such a sweet little face. "I am _not_ your mother. Go away!" She stormed out the front door, slamming it behind her. Three seconds was all it took for the toddler to throw herself on the ground, screaming for the woman who had just left her there at the foster home.

"Oh, sweetheart." A kind faced woman crouched down next to the howling child and tried her best to comfort her. "Charlene… it's okay. We'll look after you."

"I want my Mommy!" The little girl wailed.

"I know, honey. But your Mommy can't be here. You live here now." The young woman picked the sniffling child up and cradled her in her lap. "Come on, dry those tears."

Charlene sniffled, rubbing grubby fists to her eyes. "Why Mommy leave?" She whispered sorrowfully.

"Well…" The woman bit her lip. How could you tell a three year old that her mother didn't want the responsibility of looking after her anymore? "She had some things to do, honey. She's a very busy lady."

"No fair." Charlene snuggled close to the woman for a cuddle. She smelled good… like cookies and soap and flowers. "What your name?"

"Kate." The woman smiled. "Come on, shall we go and see if some of the other kids want to play?"

"But what about my Mommy?" Charlene looked toward the door expectantly, as if Moira St Steven would walk through the door again and take her away.

"I'll keep an eye out for her." Kate smiled. "Hey, do you have a nickname?"

"My name's not Nick. It's Charlene." The little girl drew her eyes away from the door and looked up at the lady. Kate laughed a little.

"No, honey. A nickname. Can I call you Charlie?"

Charlene seemed to think about it for a few moments. "Okay." She said finally.

"Okay, Charlie. Let's go play with some toys, okay?"

Charlie sighed, resigned to the fact that she'd have to play with toys until her Mommy came back. But there was that pretty cool swing set outside. Maybe she'd be allowed on that.

Time passed and every day, Charlie would get up and sit at the window to look down the street to see if her Mommy was coming back. It broke Kate's heart to watch her go through this ritual every day, because she knew that Moira wasn't coming back. They rarely every came back.

She tried her best to coax Charlie out of her shell. She suffered through the tantrums, she never yelled at the child. She prayed every night that some kind family would come and give her the love and family she deserved. But as the days and weeks passed, and the warmer weather descended on the city, her prayers stayed unanswered. Slowly, Charlie's fuzzy memories of her mother lapsed into the shadows.

Then came the day that all the children in the house looked forward to once a month: Adoption Day. Charlie awoke to do her usual ritual of getting dressed and coming downstairs to look out the bay window, to find Kate standing at the foot of her bed, holding up a lovely blue dress.

"What's that for?" the little girl asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes free of sleep. Kate smiled.

"It's for you, sweetie. You want to look nice for the people who are coming today, don't you?"

"I don't wanna be 'dopted." Charlie pouted. "I wanna stay here with you!"

"I know, sweetie… but there are lots of other kids who need my help too."

"I don't care!" Charlie whined. "I wanna stay with Kate!" She flung herself back on her pillow and buried her head under it. Kate sighed. She'd gone through this far too many times.

"Charlene Rose. Stop being such a little baby." She said, a harder tone in her voice. "All these nice people have come a long way to see you and you're going to look nice for them."

"She's always a little baby." One of the other girls, Mandy-Sue, said. "She's just a big crybaby!"

"Am not!" Charlie sat up and glared at the older girl.

"Are too!" Mandy-Sue smirked. "Crybaby! Crybaby! Crybaby!"

With a hysterical scream, Charlie launched off the bed and onto Mandy-Sue's bed, pulling at her fair hair while the older girl screeched in anger and pain, punching at the littler girl.

"_Enough!_" Kate yelled, pulling Charlie off of Mandy-Sue. "Mandy-Sue. I expected a lot more from you, young lady. And Charlie, will you _please_ get into your dress. Mrs Smith is downstairs, waiting for you all to be ready so we can have breakfast."

Mandy-Sue stuck her tongue out at Charlie behind Kate's back. Charlie reciprocated until Kate had left the room to go and check on the boys.

"Dork." Mandy-Sue said under her breath.

"Egg Face." Charlie retaliated. "Dog breath."

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Ellie, the oldest girl in the dorm was fed up. "You'd think you two were a married couple, the way you carry on."

"She started it." Mandy-Sue glared at Charlie.

"I don't care who started it. Just get dressed all of you and go down to breakfast!" Mrs Smith had heard the last comment as she entered the dorm. "Mandy-Sue and Charlene, you two can sit on the naughty step until you've learned to be civil to each other."

"But…"

"But…"

"No buts! Now, downstairs, the lot of you." Mrs Smith stood in the doorway as the girls trooped dutifully past, down to the kitchen.

"I dunno, April. Are you sure we need another kid? I mean, aren't Jess and Bam enough for one household?"

"Oh, Phil. You were all for the idea of having a little girl, now come on."

"All right, but Bam's not gonna like having a little sister, I can almost guarantee it. It'll take all the attention offa him."

"He'll learn to live with it." April said, getting out of the car as they pulled up outside Tabitha Smith's Home For Children. Standing on the step, she rang the doorbell. A woman with her greying brown hair pulled into a braid answered the door. "Hi, I'm April Margera. And this is my husband, Phil."

"Lovely to meet you, Mr and Mrs Margera." Mrs Smith smiled. "I must say, I was glad when I got your phone call."

"Well, thank you for telling us about today."

"Of course, please come in." Mrs Smith opened the door wider and let the couple in. "You're a little early, most other families won't be here for another half hour, I don't think."

"We misinterpreted traffic conditions." Phil said with a shrug. "Comin' from West Chester, the road to Atlantic City is usually really busy this time of day."

"Ah, yes." Mrs Smith smiled. "I know the road. Well, come on in and meet the girls. It was a girl you were looking for, wasn't it?"

"Yes." April nodded. "Preferably a younger girl so she can grow up and into our family."

"Lovely. Kate! Would you please introduce the Margeras to some of our younger girls?"

"Yes, Mrs Smith." Kate came forward and smiled at the couple in front of her. "They're in the living room at the moment; Ellie's reading the younger ones a story."

April and Phil followed the young woman into the living room to find Ellie reading _Stuart Little_ to the younger girls. April's heart melted at the sight of so many angelic faces turned to the older girl in complete rapture. Phil had to smile at the sight, until Ellie finished the chapter and looked up.

"Excuse me, Ellie, but these are the Margeras." Kate smiled at the girl. "They're going to talk with some of the girls." Ellie nodded and smiled shyly at the couple, who returned her smile and looked over the sea of faces. April headed to one little girl.

"What's your name, sweetie?" She asked.

"Nicola." The little girl said, straightening her bow in her hair. "I'm seven."

"Are you, now?" April said with a smile. "Are you enjoying the story?"

"I've heard it before." Nicola shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. But I don't like mouses."

"Oh, that's a shame." April smiled and her gaze shifted to the next little girl. "And what's your name?"

"Mouse." The little girl said cheekily. "Nicola doesn't like me either." Phil had to hide a smirk. That one reminded him of Bam. His gaze shifted to two little girls on a step, away from the other children. He went over to them and sat in a chair next to them.

"Hi." He said quietly. The younger girl looked up, her blonde curls framing an angelic face.

"Hi." She said, shyly.

"I'm Mandy-Sue." Said the older one, pushing into the conversation. "I'm five and a half."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Mandy-Sue." Phil smiled, his gaze going back to the blonde. "And what's your name?"

"Charlie."

"Well, hey Charlie. I'm Phil."

"I'm sorry, Mr Margera." Kate came over with an apologetic smile, April behind her. "These two children are in Time Out. They're not really supposed to be spoken to."

"Why are they in Time Out?" April asked. "They look like such sweet little girls."

"Mandy-Sue called me a crybaby and I pulled her hair." Charlie said quietly.

"Oh, well that wasn't very nice." April said. "I'm sure you're sorry, though?"

"I guess so." Charlie shrugged. April smiled. She exchanged a glance with Phil who nodded with a smile. April turned to Kate with raised eyebrows. Kate knew that look well and practically beamed.

"I'll go and talk to Mrs Smith. Mandy-Sue, you can go and help Ellie greet the other families."

"But…"

"_Now_, Mandy-Sue."

The little girl walked off to the entrance hall, grumbling. Kate watched her go with a sigh and went to find Mrs Smith. April crouched down next to Charlie and smiled.

"Charlie, huh? Is that short for something?"

"Uh-huh… Charlene Rose." Charlie puffed her chest out proudly, obviously pleased she remembered her middle name as well as her first name. April smiled.

"Well, Charlie-Rose… do you want to come and live with me and Phil?"

Charlie's lower lip trembled slightly. "Will you leave me somewhere like my Mommy did?"

April was shocked. Who could leave such a sweet little girl like this? "Oh, no. We'll take really good care of you, honey." She smiled and held out her hand. Charlie looked at it for some time, looking back up at April and Phil.

"Will there be other kids I can play with?"

"We have two boys. Jesse and Bam." April said wit ha reassuring smile. "They're eleven and seven."

Charlie crinkled her nose. "Bam? Like the Flintstones?"

Phil laughed. "Kind of. His Pop-Pop called him Bam because he likes running into walls."

"He's silly."

"He can be." April agreed. "So what do you say? Think you can knock some sense into my two boys?"

Charlie looked down at her lap again. "What if my Mommy comes looking for me here?"

"We'll tell her where you are." Kate said reassuringly. "Come on, Charlie… you'll have great fun."

"And you can visit here too." April said with a smile. That seemed to seal the deal with Charlie. She looked up and smiled.

"Okay." She nodded and hopped off the step. "Can I go put my jeans on now?" She looked up at Kate for confirmation. Both April and Phil laughed.

"It's up to April and Phil." Kate smiled. April nodded at Charlie who ran up the stairs to get out of her dress. "Mrs Smith has gotten all the paperwork ready for you to sign." Kate said. "I'll take you to her office and then I'll go and help Charlie pack."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Family Ties

Author: lj user="detafo"

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I own none of the Margera clan. This story was written purely for the entertainment of others and there was no copyright infringement intended. If any of the Margeras or their friends read this, I meant no disrespect. I own Charlie.

A/N: This story is completely AU. It has been bouncing around in my head for days, after I had a CKY and Viva La Bam Marathon. It's got a Matilda/Stuart Little/Annie sort of vibe to it, I guess.

**Chapter Two**

As the car pulled into the driveway of the Margera household, Charlie looked at the large back yard in wonder. This place was _huge_. Phil parked the car and got out, opening the trunk to get Charlie's small suitcase out. April helped the little girl out of the back seat and smiled as she looked around.

"You live here?" She asked in complete wonder.

"This is where you live, Charlie." April smiled and led the little girl to the front door. Mentally praying that the boys hadn't turned the kitchen into a skate park again, she led Charlie through to the living room while Phil took the suitcase upstairs. Sitting on the kitchen bench eating an apple was a young boy with dark brown hair and ice blue eyes.

"Hey, Mom." He said, biting into the apple, his heels banging into the cupboard door as he swung his feet.

"Bam, get down from there." April pushed the boy off the bench and looked at the damage her son's heels had done. "By God, Bam, I swear, you're painting over those scuff-marks."

"Why do I gotta?" Bam whined slightly. "I didn't do it." His comment was met with a no-nonsense look from April. He averted his gaze to the blonde-haired moppet that had followed his mother in. "Thought you said we were getting another brother?"

"I said nothing of the sort." April said. "Charlie, this is Bam. Your new older brother."

"Hi." Charlie said shyly. Bam scoffed.

"What kinda name is Charlie? For a girl?" he rolled his eyes and walked off, leaving the apple core on the bench.

"Don't mind him." April said, looking down at Charlie. "He's not that great with people he doesn't know." Charlie just looked up at her, wide-eyed. "Now, what's your favourite food, Charlie?"

"Um… Pancakes."

"We can't have pancakes for dinner." April chuckled. "Do you like chicken?"

Charlie shrugged. "I dunno."

"Well, we'll have roast chicken tonight, then." April smiled. "Do you want to see your room?"

"I get my own room?" Charlie asked in wonderment. "I don't gotta share with people?"

"Nope. You get a room all to yourself." April smiled. "Come on. You can decorate it any way you please."

::~::

At dinner that night, Bam made sure his dislike for this new person was visible. And as much as April reprimanded him for making noise and talking over everyone else, he didn't listen.

"Wanna know what me and Raaby did today?" He asked.

"Raab and I." April corrected him.

"Whatever." Bam rolled his eyes. "We went down to the creek and we threw a firecracker in there and caught a fish!"

"Brandon Cole Margera!" April glared at him. "That is illegal, don't you know?"

"So? We didn't get caught." Bam shrugged, apparently nonchalant about the whole experience. "It was fun. It was only a small fish, but it was a good one. I was gonna bring it home for dinner, but it was too small to feed Fat Boy."

"Bam, don't speak of your father like that."

"Why did you kill a fish?" Charlie piped up, curious as to why her new big brother would do such a thing. Bam just gave her a Look.

"Don't you know anything? Because it's fun." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Jess, what did you do today?" April asked, getting off the subject of the blown-up fish. Her older son shrugged.

"Went over to Deron's and played Sonic for a while." He said, picking a chicken bone out of his food. "Then went down to the quarry."

"Why? To look for diamonds again?" Bam smirked.

"No, so I could pick out a good spot for your grave." Jesse shot back.

"Mom!"

"Oh, would you quit it, you two." April put her head in her hands. "Phil, can you help me out here?"

"You guys better be careful you don't get caught wandering around that quarry. They don't take too kindly to kids playin' down there." Phil said.

"Hey, Mom." Bam said, seemingly having not taken anything in that his father had said. "Can Dico come over tomorrow?"

"No." April said firmly. "We're taking Charlie over to meet Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop. And," She raised her voice to be heard over her sons' groans. "You're both coming with us. You haven't seen either of them since Mum-Mum's birthday last year."

"That's because Vito got drunk and tried to blame us for crashing his car." Jesse said. "He's always around there, scamming off Mum-Mum."

"Oh, he is not." April retorted, but her face was grim. "Would you rather he be over here scamming off us? I wouldn't."

"How come we have to be related to that fat tub of lard, anyway?" Bam muttered, picking at a bread roll.

"Who's Vito?" Charlie piped up, not knowing what was going on here. The conversation stopped as the family remembered they had a new addition.

"Vito is my brother." Phil said. "You'll probably meet him tomorrow."

"Oh, God. I hope not." April muttered.

"Come on, Ape. She has to meet him sometime."

"I know, I'd just rather it wasn't right away." April put her head in her hands. Bam took the opportunity to throw bread at Charlie.

"Hey, Bam. Stop it, all right?" Phil said with a frown. Charlie stuck her tongue out at Bam and opened her mouth to catch a piece of bread and chewed it. Bam stopped throwing bread, astounded.

"Dude, did you see that?" He asked his brother. "She can catch bread in her mouth!"

"Big deal, I've been doing that for years. You don't make a big song and dance about me." Jesse rolled his eyes, getting up. "I'm gonna go watch some TV."

"Me too." Bam said, also getting up.

"Put your dishes in the sink." April told them before they left.

"'Kay, Mom!" The boys called back in unison as they headed for the living room, leaving the dirty dishes on the table. April rolled her eyes and started clearing the table.

"Charlie, you wanna help me?"

"Okay…" Charlie helped take the bread basket and the cutlery into the kitchen to be washed.

::~::

April helped the little girl snuggle under the blankets of the big, comfy bed in her new bedroom. Smoothing her hair off her forehead, April smiled. "Would you like me to read you a story?" She asked softly.

"Uh-huh…" Charlie nodded, her eyes drooping slightly as the adrenaline of the day wore off and sleepiness took over. "…please." She remembered to say. April smiled and looked at the battered picture book that had been in Charlie's suitcase.

"_The Wizard Of Oz_." She murmured. "I love this story."

"It was my Mommy's book." Charlie said, looking at it. April bit her lip as she opened it and began to read. Charlie was asleep within minutes. April leaned down and kissed the top of the little girl's head and turned on the night light. Closing the door until it was ajar, she made her way downstairs to finish cleaning the kitchen.

::~::

"Dude, I don't know why we're doing this." Jesse whispered to his brother. "She's our sister, dude…"

"She is _not_ my sister." Bam whispered fiercely. "She's stupid and I don't like her." He took the drumsticks off his older brother and grinned. "And I'm gonna show her how much I don't like her."

Creeping into the bedroom, he let his eyes adjust to the dim light Charlie was snuggled up under the blankets of the bed, looking so peaceful. Setting the trashcan down, he motioned to Jess to hook up the tape deck. Jess sighed and popped a tape into the deck and pressed play. Almost instantly, a Tommy Lee drum piece blasted through the speaker and echoed around the room. Bam began hitting everything he could with the drumsticks he held and screamed along with the track.

Charlie shot up in bed, looking around and screaming blue murder. What was happening?! She screamed louder when she saw Bam in a terrifying Halloween mask, banging away on the end of her bed with sticks.

The lights flicked on and April wrenched the sticks away from Bam, glaring at Jess. Jess gulped and turned the tape deck off, before scarpering out the door.

"Fraidy Cat!" Bam screeched after his brother.

"Brandon Margera!" April yelled. Phil frowned disapprovingly at his son and marched him down the hall to his bedroom. April sat on the edge of the bed, next to a huddled, shivering pile of bedclothes. "Shhh, Charlie… its okay." April pulled the bedclothes back and hugged the crying child to her. Charlie snuggled up to her, her sobs muffled by April's dressing gown. Rocking her from side to side, April waited until the tears had dried. "You okay?"

"That was scary." Charlie sniffled. "Why did Bam do that?"

"He's just not used to having a little sister, honey…"

"He's mean to me." Charlie sniffled again, her blue eyes wide. "He doesn't like me."

"Oh, he'll learn." April said, reassuringly. "I'll make sure of it." She smiled. "You just be happy he's taking an interest in scaring you. He does that to all of us."

"He does?"

"That's his way of testing to see if he's going to like you." April said, mentally promising that her younger son was going to be punished for this. Probably scrubbing the toilet.

"Okay…" Charlie thought for a while, trying to hold back a yawn. April smiled.

"I'll stay here until you fall asleep, honey." Charlie nodded and lay back down on her bed. April tucked her in again and stroked her hair until the little girl fell asleep.

::~::

A few days later, Charlie was exploring the large house and looking for places she could hide if she needed to make a quick getaway from Bam and his stupid tricks. Coming to a closed door, she put her hand on the knob and opened the door to another bedroom.

"Hey, what are you doing in here?" Jesse frowned, turning around to see Charlie in his doorway.

"Sorry." Charlie said, looking at her shoe. "I was just looking."

Jesse smirked and shrugged. "Just my room." He studied the little girl. "So you're Charlie, right?"

"Yeah." Charlie nodded. "And you're Jesse."

Jesse laughed. "You wanna play cards? I got a new deck."

"Go Fish?"

"Okay." He got the new deck of cards and looked at her. "You know Pop-Pop's been teaching me poker. Maybe I can teach you sometime."

"What's poker?"

"You bet money on it. Or we just use jelly beans."

"I like jelly beans."

"Cool." Jesse decided he liked this kid. He could handle her as a little sister.

::~::

"So they said you were getting a new brother and they went and got a sister?" Chris Raab asked, a confused look on his face. He climbed up the ladder of the tree house and sat on a higher branch to eat his Milk Duds. "That's stupid."

"I know. I hate her. She's so stupid. I can't even play any tricks on her." Bam said, chewing on his liquorice whip. "She's always hanging around with Mom, anyway."

"So does she squeal on us?"

"If she does, I'm gonna get her."

"So, let's get rid of her… sisters are bogus anyway."

"Yeah. But Jess likes her."

"Your brother is stupid." Chris shrugged. "I told ya before."

Bam laughed. "So what should we do?"

"Is she scared of anything?"

"I think she's scared of spiders. All girls are scared of spiders."

"Yeah!" Chris grinned. "I just got some new rubber spiders for Halloween. Let's scare her with them!"

"Cool!" Bam grinned, grabbing his skateboard and jumping to the ground. "Come on, let's do it now!"

Chris climbed down with a cheeky grin on his face. "Let's do it!"

::~::

On the trampoline out in the back yard, Charlie was bouncing and showing off some tricks to Jesse. Jesse, cheering her on, saw Bam and Chris coming toward them and rolled his eyes. What were they up to now? He decided he was going to ignore them. Returning his attention to Charlie, who was still jumping, he called out. "Bet you can't bounce sitting down!"

"I can too!" Charlie giggled, showing exactly how wrong he was.

Bam and Chris crept up behind the trampoline. "Hey, Charlie!" Bam called. As the little girl turned around to stick her tongue out at him, he threw a rubber tarantula at her.

"Aaaaaaargh!" Charlie screamed, leaping to the side so the spider wouldn't hit her. Suddenly, she was bombarded with all sorts of spider and she continued screaming. Bam and Chris were laughing hysterically as they watched her bounce around, avoiding the spiders. Jess tried his best to calm her down, but Charlie had realised that the spiders were rubber and saw red.

Leaping off the trampoline, she collided with Bam and knocked him down. "I hate you!" She screamed. Chris thought this was hilarious and was bent double, laughing. Bam managed to fend off the irate girl and ran off, laughing. Charlie got up, dusting herself off, and ran off after Bam, who had stopped to catch his breath. Tackling him with a war cry, she began beating him with her little fists.

"Whoa!" Bam yelled, covering his face with his arms. "Hey, get off me!"

"No way!" Charlie cried triumphantly, happy to finally have the upper hand. "You're stupid, Bam!" She smacked him again and got off him, before running after a still-laughing Chris. Inhibited by laughing at the sight before him, Chris couldn't run very far before Charlie collided with him and stole his cap and ran off.

"Hey! My cap!" Chris watched as Charlie ran off and threw the hat up a tree. "Hey!"

Bam watched all that happened with wide eyes. This kid was fierce.

Minutes later, Jess had run up to Charlie and Chris.

"Jess!" Chris whined. "Your stupid sister threw my hat in the tree."

"You threw spiders at me!" Charlie said angrily. "You're a stupid head!"

"So did Bam!"

"Hey, it was your idea, dumbass!"

"Bam!" The kids turned to see April heading across the field. "If I hear that kind of language from you again, you're grounded!"

"But-"

"No buts!" She looked at the collection of children. "Charlie, did you throw Chris's hat in the tree?"

"He threw spiders at me!"

"But did you throw his hat in the tree?"

"Yes." Charlie said in a small voice as she looked at her shoe.

"Alright. Bam, Chris… I saw you throw those spiders at Charlie. I want you to apologise."

"Why?" Chris asked angrily. "She threw my hat in the tree!"

"Christopher Raab!"

Chris glared at Charlie. "Sorry." He spat.

"Sorry." Bam followed suit. "The spiders were only rubber."

"But they scared her good." Chris grinned, his hat momentarily forgotten. Jess sighed and began climbing the tree to get it down. April watched him closely until he'd gotten down.

"I wish the lot of you would stop fighting. If I hear you fighting again, you'll all be cleaning the house."

Bam's shoulders slumped. He hated cleaning. "Okay, Mom."

"Okay." Jess shrugged. He wasn't the one fighting.

"Okay…" Charlie said, nodding. She wanted to stay here, even if she hated Bam. He was better than putting up with Mandy-Sue at the Home. "Sorry, Chris." She said in a small voice.

"It's okay." Chris shrugged. "Your sister's kinda cool, Bammie." He said, turning to his friend. "She can fight dirty."

Bam giggled. "Yeah. She can be mean. I don't wanna make her mad again." He turned to Charlie and grinned. "She's pretty cool for a sister."


End file.
